Project Trust: Making the Difference, Home and Away

Getting angry about politics is a relatively new hobby of mine. For the past nine months I have been volunteering for the charity Project Trust in Tokyo where, due to the nature of media in the country, political discussions don't come about very often. A couple of days ago, I was telling my friends from home about my proxy application for the upcoming general election and was met with a response triggering in me a deeply heartbroken sigh as I mourned for our generation. "What difference is that one vote going to make anyway?"

The occasionally pretentious English Literature student that I am, my response to comments disregarding the impact an individual can make will always be the same.

"All my efforts will amount to nothing more than one drop in a limitless ocean. Yet what is any ocean but a multitude of drops?" (Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell).

Her comment is not what this blog post is about. I was, however, inspired. 

Maybe my one vote by itself isn't making the difference, but what about all the others in the same position as me? There are around 250 Project Trust volunteers all around the world, do our 250 votes matter? (Not to forget the thousands of other British people living and travelling abroad).

I took to a fair number of my fellow volunteers and asked if they were aware of how they could vote on the 8th June and, much to my deep despondency, I didn't receive a single 'yes'.

The importance of taking part in electoral processes cannot be understated, particularly for young people. Roughly 40% of 18-24 year olds voted in the last general election on the 7th May 2015, as opposed to 80% of 55-65 year olds. 75% of young voters voted leave in the referendum, but nearly half didn't cast a vote at all; apathy is the most dangerous threat to democracy and freedom that there is.There are so many reasons why young people have to vote, amongst them

soaring youth unemployment, a job market saturated with unpaid internships, drastic changes to university tuition fees, as well as severe cuts to youth services and youth mental health services.

This snap election called by Theresa May - given the current political climate - will determine the entire future of the UK and its place in the world. 

I'm now addressing Project Trust volunteers, and any other British citizens who are travelling outside of the UK. You can still vote. It is a human right to vote. Use it. It is not as tricky a process as you might think (although trickier for some of you than others). One of my sisters works for the Electoral Processes Department at my local council and has offered her advice on how you can make your voice heard.

For the majority of you, I would encourage voting by proxy. This means allocating a trusted person to cast your vote on your behalf. A form must be received by your local council eleven days before the date of the specified vote. In this case, the General Election (08/06/17). You print the form from here and post it to the address, which you can find by typing your post code into the search bar at the bottom of the page. Unfortunately, postage from overseas is not free. There is an alternative and quicker method. Print and fill in the form, then scan it into a PDF and email it to your council with the email found via the search engine. If you have a smartphone, you can even get apps which can scan paper into PDF files with ease. I have been told by my council representative that this should be acceptable for everyone; it is how I applied for my proxy and it worked for me.

If you want to vote directly, without a third party, you can vote by post. Print the document here, post it to the address of your local council given on the website. There may be complications here as the deadline to apply to vote by post at the UK general election on Thursday 8 June is 5pm (GBT) on Tuesday 23rd May. If you can scan the document and email it, you may be able to get it done in time.

There are other obstacles I am very aware of, such as the lack of access to technology in some of the more remote projects. Many of you do not have access to internet, let alone printers, and if you are at one of these projects, kudos to you for being able to access this blog post. How are you doing that? Did you know we're in the middle of another general election? Yes, it is a joke. Yes, it's a very exhausting joke at that. First the EU referendum, then Trump, now this. You hadn't heard about the election of President Trump? I envy you.

Anyway, the important things in a postal application is that the council knows where the person is registered, and where they want their postal vote to be delivered to. Also, a proxy or postal application cannot be verified without your date of birth and the signature of the elector; this is what the council will use to verify that the vote is not fraudulent. So long as this information is on anything, I have been assured that there is no reason why this would not be accepted; the forms are very basic and simply for convenience. If you can access a pen and paper and can post the same information, this should be acceptable. It should include:

• Your surname
• First names (in full)
• Current address and post code
• Daytime telephone or mobile number including the country code (optional)
• Email address (optional)
• The full address of where you are registered to vote in the UK and post code
• The name of your allocated proxy
• Their relationship to you (if any)
• Their full address and post code
• The reason why you wish to vote by proxy (you will be overseas on the date of the election)
• The date of the election you wish for your proxy to represent you on (08/06/2017)
• Your date of birth (DD/MM/YYYY)
• Signature
• The date of your application (today's date)

If you want to vote by post, you may be a little too late for this method (I am certain it is too late), as posting a proxy vote from across the globe is already pushing it. For that, I apologise for not posting this sooner. If you can scan it and send it as an email, you may be able to get away with this, should you be willing to risk it. The information you need to include is:

• Your surname
• First names (in full)
• Current address and post code
• Daytime telephone or mobile number including the country code (optional)
• Email address (optional)
• The full address of where you are registered to vote in the UK and post code
• The date of the election you wish to vote on (08/06/2017)
• The alternative address you wish for your ballot paper to be sent to
• The reason why you wish for your ballot to be sent to the alternative address
• Your date of birth (DD/MM/YYYY)
• Signature
• The date of your application (today's date)

I am not writing this to tell you how to vote and so I will cast no opinion on here (that's what my Facebook and Twitter are for). If you're not sure who to vote for, my advice - if you can - would be to take to one of the many quizzes that have been cropping up to help you determine your political compass. The most popular of these is isidewith, touching on the important topics: social, environmental, and economic issues, domestic policy, healthcare, education, electoral processes, crime, foreign policy, transportation, immigration, and science (don't worry, it isn't as long as it sounds, you will be asked questions you may not have thought about before and the results may really interest you).

My last piece of advice is this. If you have not yet registered to vote, the deadline to do so is imminent. Please please please please register to vote in a couple of simple steps here. The deadline to register for the general election is 11:59pm  (GMT) on 22 May. Naturally, if you have already registered to vote, you do not need to register again.

Your vote matters. By volunteering with Project Trust you have proven that you know what it means to be a global citizen; you are an individual who has an active impact on the larger society. Be aware of the impact one person can make. We aim to make that difference, at home and away.

Liz Smith

Japan Volunteer 16/17

Showa Women's University (I)

Our project didn't begin properly until October, by which time we had comfortably settled in to life in the city and worked out some knowledge of the unnecessarily complicated train system. As of that month, the semester began for the university students which presented us with the opportunity to meet new people our own age and begin working with our new responsibilities.

Unlike many of the projects you'll hear of from Project Trust volunteers, ours is unusual in the way that we're in such a large city, and Showa Women's University holds international prestige. A private institution, it is known across all of Japan, and students come here from many different neighboring countries to study (I've made friends from Japan, Korea, China, Malaysia, Vietnam, India, Poland, and Australia). The students - both at the university and its associated schools - are very normal people from very normal backgrounds. However, if you get to know them (just like anyone you will meet) they showcase a fantastic array of talents; I have found teaching to be a wonderful symbiosis of me teaching my students and my students teaching me. Upon our arrival in Japan, we were met at Haneda Airport by a group of select Showa students who helped to show us around the city, and we've been close friends ever since (they even got me a cake for my birthday!) Future volunteers, count yourself as extremely lucky; working with the students at Showa is easily one of the best parts of living here.

One of these new responsibilities at the university has been to arrange two half an hour English sessions per week. These can be on any topic we like and are entirely at our creative control, yet should be fun as attendance is voluntary; participants should not feel like they are in a standard English class. I've gone as far as creating my own Hogwarts Sorting Hat game to meet the students' demand. More than that we tend to focus on giving students a cultural exchange; western culture is often met with awe and enthusiasm as everything is so wildly different in Japan. Another reason this is enjoyed is because the majority of participants are in their first year preparing to move to Showa's Foreign Exchange Campus in Boston for their second; they're as excited to learn about the Western World as we are about the East.

"I'm interested in other countries' culture, so the English Lounge was fun for me because I could know a lot about other countries (I really liked the Christmas one when we looked at the John Lewis adverts!) I also really love Liz and Teiba." (Yuino Keta, English and Communications Student, that last bit are her words not mine, honestly).

Most of the work my partner and I do here is as an assistant language teacher in the elementary classes. Honestly, I wasn't sure about this at first as most TESOL projects allow volunteers the opportunity to host their own classes. The classroom teachers present a role for us to play which can vary greatly in significance from one lesson to another. I think though, as an ALT, it's important to understand where you are needed and choose what role you personally want to play in the classroom. For me, my purpose came with the realisation that the class sizes are too big for the main teacher to be fully conscious of how each individual student is performing. 

As there are up to forty students in each forty minute class, the teacher usually presents their lesson at the front of the room as they have prepared it, leaving the students the responsibility of choosing whether or not to learn. As effective a tactic as this is for the majority, there are so many more complications with those who don't understand, those that would understand but consistently find themselves distracted, and the disruptive individuals who tend to be doing the distracting. I've definitely noticed the difference my presence as an ALT can make in these situations.

For example, there is one young lad in the third grade called Kyodo-kun who loves to be mischievous. He'd never do any of the work, enjoyed shouting, often refused to bow in and out of lessons (an important practice symbolising mutual respect between student and teacher) and distracted anyone within a three chair radius. Customarily, the classroom teacher would do nothing about this until the end of the lesson, after which they would take him aside and exchange words hoping next time he'll be better behaved. In these lessons, I took it upon myself to begin observing his behaviour and talking to him to try and develop an understanding of him as a person. 

Whereas most students sit upright and do all of their work quietly, Kyodo adores attention and is incredibly fidgety. His pencils are chewed down to the lead and he cannot concentrate when sat still at a desk. His notebook is completely empty but he keeps a plethora of small colourful drawings in his pencil case and takes great pride in them. I began working more closely with him. Forming a closer relationship with him by simply talking to him about his interests meant that he began to listen to me and appreciated the help I could offer. I encouraged Kyodo to enjoy taking notes by using his coloured pencils to include appropriate illustrations, and requested to the classroom teacher to increase the number of kinaesthetic learning activities in lesson plans. These small steps can make a massive difference to the education received by individual students and cannot be undervalued. He's still cheeky and loves attention, but now, whenever you ask Kyodo-kun a question on the work, he next to always knows the answer. Like the others he is exceptionally bright; his work thrives on receiving the right praise, and that's where I come in.

(part I, because there's so much to be said but if I don't publish this now it might not get published until May).

Shibuya

Tokyo is an expansive city; it probably doesn't take anyone who's been there to tell you that. However, without any experience, you probably have a clear picture in your mind's eye of what Tokyo looks like.

I count myself as extremely lucky to be able to say that I live only a couple stops on the Den-en-Toshi Line from the postmodern art piece that is Shibuya. 

The centre of this city is a tourist highlight - the Scramble Crossing. At the centre of the web, five different roads intersect to form the largest crossing in the world. This - you can probably imagine - is hectic. As a Mancunian I thought I was used to living in a big city, but not even my time in London can compare to this. My toleration for the sheer populace of this town 24/7 can be limited, saved only by how fascinating I find the whole place. The only time I haven't seen it packed by hundreds of pedestrians was during the post New Years celebrations, wherein the Japanese tradition is to stay in the home for three days. If you want a good look, the view from the panoramic windows of the second floor Starbucks is phenomenal - justifying this being one of the most popular Starbucks cafes owned globally by the chain. Personally, it is far too busy for me and, frankly, it's borderline impossible to get a seat overlooking the crossing anyway. My personal recommendation is the cafe in the opposite building, Hoshino Coffee. The coffee I've tried there is average but they serve it in vintage copper mugs, and their Japanese souffle pancakes are beautiful. The view is exactly the same.

Working in a university, I hear a lot about this area; Shibuya holds fame for more than just its zebra stripes and fluffy pancakes, being the centre of all the best nightlife in Tokyo. The City of Lights is even more lit in the night than the day (see what I did there?) with its extent of shows and club scenery. The parties in the city attract thousands and can probably only rival those I've seen in Ibiza, with world famous light shows, huge three dimensional holograms of anime characters and dance floors the size of music arenas. Sadly, being 19 I have so far found no access to any of this; I can only take solace in knowing that none of them are, or ever will be, Manchester's 42s. The students in particular gravitate towards Shibuya in the evening, dance until the clubs close, and take refuge in internet cafes or the city's 24 hour Denny's until the morning trains run again.

On the weekend preceding Hallowe'en, we went to Shibuya - camera in hand - to admire dressing up costumes the way only the Japanese can do them. Even in the early evening, the streets were far too packed for someone of my miniature proportions to move, let alone hold a camera without being knocked over. If you're interested, the result of my attempt to walk down a street was this footage.

There's far too much to Shibuya for me to cover, but the one last feature I want to cover is a small, personal favourite. One of the main ways into the train station is the Hachikō Entrance, named for its plaque and the statue of the eponymous dog, Hachikō. He was an Akita from Ōdate, remembered in stone (as well as in many other forms of Japanese literature and media) for his unmatched loyalty to his owner, which lasted for nine years after his owner's death. The statue is a popular meet-up point in the city, and on special holidays the effigy - like the statues of KFC's Colonel Sanders - is given a small costume to mark the occasion. Twice, I have also seen a small cat resting between the two front paws of Hachikō. He's a relatively frequent visitor. The people of the city claim some significance to the cat's chosen resting space; I just think it's pretty cute.

As it's the stop at the end of my train line, I have been here more than any of the other large areas of Tokyo. What's more, every time I feel like I've finally mastered this part of the city, I get completely lost again and uncover more. Then again, that's exactly the way every aspect of my project in Japan has been so far, and exactly the way I expect every aspect of my journey here to continue.

September in The City

If you recall the introduction to my previous post, in it I stated: "I should also admit that I recognise that I am the worst possible person for keeping up with this blog (now nearly a month into my project)". Okay, it's laughable. Due to reasons beyond anything I can justify, this blog was last updated on the 28th September. It's the 17th January, 2017. I'm disappointed in me, too.

Because I'm hopeless, I'm going to quickly cover some of the more memorable events from each month, alongside other details. Not sure how many of you are reading or where you are from, but you're each here with an individual purpose, and for each of you I should try and meet said purpose.

In my last post I began to cover September, but only really the start of my project. In September, I was essentially a tourist. Lost, daily, in one of the most extensive cities in the world. Never a clue where I was going. Never a clue how to work the subway system. We made a point of visiting some tourist favourites such as Asakusa, Akihabara, Ikebukuro, Ueno, Roppongi and of course, Disney Sea. These feel like such a long time ago now, as they were, luckily my memory is pretty fantastic.

Of the aforementioned, if you've visited or ever considered visiting Tokyo, Akihabara, Ikebukuro and Roppongi are three places you will have heard of, all very much representative of Tokyo in the modern day.

Akihabara is known as Anime Central - the Mecca to your weeaboos across the globe. I should state here that I have very minimal interest in anime, this was not and never will be the source of my love of Japan. We didn't spend very long here if I remember correctly, as just one of the first stops we were given on our guided tour of the city's attractions. They have hi-tec robot wrestling and maid cafes, as well as some of the best arcades in the world. I remember one girl in particular in SEGA who spent an insane amount of time on a claw machine to win an anime figure. She was putting thousands of yen into the machine at a time, and on the two occasions she ran out of money, she left, then returned after a trip to the bank to try again. Her efforts were both mesmerising and utterly heartbreaking. We couldn't stop watching her until she either won the figure or gave up trying. She ran out of money. We held back tears.

Another stop on the circle line of note is Ikebukuro, similar in its attraction to dominantly young people. There are a variety of shops along the high street adorned with cinema-esque screens which play toothpaste adverts and classic Yu-Gi-Oh episodes. At its centre, the 'mall' - Sunshine City - is famed for its J-World theme park and Mega Pokemon Centre. I've yet to visit the J-World but have heard many good things. Whether you're a Pokemon fan or not, both are worth a passing visit.

(*Future vols - You may be tempted by the Sunshine City Aquarium on the rooftop - I implore you to not bother. It is expensive and tiny, and despite the cool posters depicting sealions it has no attractions of any note. There are two great aquariums in Shinagawa for less than half the price).

Unlike anywhere else I have ever visited, Tokyo is a spiderweb of vast towns with no real favour for one. If I were to refer to "Central Manchester" you would instantly think Piccadilly Gardens, Market Street, Oxford Road, Deansgate. "Central London", in the same way. "Central Tokyo" is not a place. There is a stop on the train line called Tokyo, but in no way is this the centre of life in the city. Rather, it's just a big train station. From my experience, the two places I would narrow the heart of Tokyo down to (you may think otherwise) are Shibuya - for its image, and Roppongi - for its scene. If you've never been to Tokyo, you have a picture of it in your head from passing photography and media representation. This picture is, without much of a doubt, Shibuya. However, for now, I'm just going to talk about the latter. Roppongi plays home to the iconic Tokyo Tower and a large number of shops, festivals, galleries, and pretty much anything you can think of. The landmark - reminiscent of its inspiration, the Eiffel Tower in Paris - illuminates at night and is truly a sight to behold. We figured we didn't have time to go to the top as I wanted to get back to Roppongi's British Pub in time to catch the Premiere League match between Manchester United and City (for a little piece of home). Unfortunately, we weren't actually allowed into the bar in the evening what with the drinking age in Japan being 20 (I say "unfortunately", it turned out to be a derby I was glad to have missed [10/09/16]). Originally, this trip was made to see the Tokyu Midtown Paper Lantern Display - an annually held event to commemorate the lives lost to the Tohoku earthquake in 2011. Other times, we've been to Roppongi for a screening of 'The Great Gatsby' in a huge outdoor cinema, to eat in Gonpachi - the very restaurant that inspired Tarantino's 'Kill Bill', a Japanese robot exhibition (some hauntingly impressive technology), not to mention the famed Hedgehog Cafe.

Modern Japan is globally infamous and embodied by towns like the aforementioned. But, if you're like me, you probably hold an equal appreciation for the traditions and history that make Japan Japan. Our year here has featured aspects of both equally. I have said this before but repetition is emphasis - the fact that this country can maintain such an intense grip on its origins whilst simultaneously play its part as one of the world's leaders in technological advancement will never not stun the world.

The end of the beginning

And so, with an hour's very official closing ceremony, today ends my first semester teaching at Showa's elementary school and kindergarten. I should also admit that I recognise that I am the worst possible person for keeping up with this blog (now nearly a month into my project) and I'm not even going to try and make up excuses. Instead, I'll just cover the basics and apologise once more, although more to myself than to anyone else.

In the past four weeks, my partner Teiba and I have been assisting the English staff at the elementary school; we haven't started working with the university yet as their semester doesn't start until October. That aside, I already believe that teaching this year will be one of the most rewarding and enjoyable things I ever do. There are seven different year groups, these being first to sixth grade as well as the kindergarten, and each of these are split into three classes. Compared to the English primary schools I'm familiar with, the children in these classes are impeccably well behaved; not a single one would dare do the dishonour of stepping out of line. All of them adore learning and treat their school and their teachers with the utmost respect. The students know me as Liz Sensei (although they can't quite pronounce the 'L' so I've settled comfortably with 'Rizu').

Working in the school, I'm also getting used to life as somewhat of a celebrity. The children can barely contain their excitement at the sight of us, and always try their best to shout as many random English words as they can string together in the hopes to impress. The first and second graders insist on a dozen hi-fives apiece whilst trying to employ me as a human climbing frame, contrasting the older students who (and I kid you not) run up to us after class with their file in one hand and pen in the other, requesting with the deepest of bows that we sign our names on the front.

The topics we have been covering in class have been relatively simple. With the first grade, for instance, we have been working alongside Hitomi Sensei - a lovely woman and very cheerful teacher - teaching about creatures that live in the sea via a horribly catchy song about sharks, whales and mermaids that makes the students (particularly the boys) cackle hysterically.

Hitomi-san accompanies us when we work with the kindergarten on Tuesdays, likewise. The children in these classes are 3-4 years old, and we join them for their P.E lessons. Besides joining them for running around and playing games, in the middle of the lessons we sit and read a story. At the end of my most recent lesson, I was overwhelmed by the cuteness of a little girl I'd just met called Mei-chan who ran up to me at the end, hugged me tightly around the waist and said "Rizu Sensei, you are my favourite teacher and I love you." - Not only was this absolutely adorable but, considering that she dominantly speaks Japanese, hadn't uttered a word to me despite my attempts at chit-chat all morning, and can't be that much older than my niece Pippa, her English was excellent.

The other two main members of staff are Hatai Sensei and Sumida Sensei. Hatai-san only works with the older years and, although fierce, she is an absolute delight to work alongside. Sumida-san, too, has been extremely friendly and welcoming. With him, we are covering shapes with the third grade. To help them get their head around the oh-so-complicated hexagon, we helped the class make dozens of these out of origami (of course origami paper is part of the school equipment list, what less should I have expected from Japan?), and had fun sticking them all together to make a paper ""soccer ball."" Not only this, but he has been thrilled to help us with other things, including using his Disney geek knowledge to help us successfully book an end-of-semester treat (I'll give you three guesses...), and he made us a batch of his staffroom-famous cookies which, after seeing how much we loved them, he has promised to make again!

September has been a very chilled month and a lovely start to my project. There have been few limitations, the language barrier being somewhat irksome but never necessarily problematic. And as aforementioned, I'm excited to get back which is when we will start working with the university students. I highly doubt teachers normally get excited to go to work, but if my second semester promises to be anywhere near as fun or productive as my first then I can't deny that - for possibly the first and probably the last time in my life - I am poised and quite eager to get up for school on Monday morning.

Sumida Sensei - 3rd Grade English. 26/09/16

The world's greatest existential contradiction

My project is set to begin on Monday. It is currently the early morning of my tenth day in Tokyo. Since having arrived, I have wanted little more than to take in every aspect of the city that I can and form an opinion outside of the preconceptions that we, as spectators to a world constructed by the media, are all so familiar with. 

Given ten days, I will not pretend to have even seen even a single percentage of Tokyo's secrets. Nevertheless, from now I don't think my attitude will waver. Upon observation, the city is a timeline of its own evolution. An artistic clash of ages. The world's greatest contradiction.

Japan is a city encompassed by strict eastern cultural traditions. It remains the world's centre of Zen Buddhism and inner peace, and yet the city is a spider-web of skyscrapers lit from foundation to peak with the bedazzling faces of cartoon characters. The population is colossal. A stunning example is the famed Shibuya Crossing, where thousands of people cross the road every time the traffic lights change; imagine a solitary hologram walking in a perpetual loop through a beehive of mirrors. Always on the go, but never going anywhere. If you walk a couple of minutes down the street from this, ancient shrines stand in pink gardens, centuries old and undamaged. From here, all you can hear is the cicadas singing Summer.

I won't lie, every notion I had gathered about life in Tokyo from its media representation have turned out to be, without much question, the reality. As much as I would love to have been able to say otherwise, I can confirm that yes, some girls do walk around in kimonos and yes, those are the same girls that live for anime and everything cute and fluffy. Pikachu is everywhere. Everyone eats sushi. The country is built on respect. Godzilla is a genuine concern. I could go on about my initial impressions, but not here and not now. This takes nothing away from my experience, though, and if anything I am even more excited. I am discovering new secrets and learning new cultural practices every day. For now, I hope to shine some light on what you can truly expect, and all the while open my own mind, for these coming months, to Tokyo: the city that will never die.

Akihabara, Tokyo. 01/09/16

Shinjuku, Tokyo. 02/09/16

Written on Paper Wings

She unfolds origami feathers
And takes flight with the chrysanthemum:
White ink on cerulean cotton.

e.s.